Germination Notes: Day 13

It has been almost two weeks since I planted (Feb 1st) and it is so much fun to see all the things starting to come up.  The Tidy Tips were first... followed by the CA Poppies, then the Red Fescue- and now we have some mystery germinators and the Five Spots just made a guest appearance.  I am pretty sure that we have some Mini Lupines coming up, but not positive.

Red Fescue and Five Spots
(I only know because that is where I planted them.)

Close up of our budding seedlings- the big green patches
are Tidy Tips and the silver green are Poppies.

Yes- I go out in my pajamas and sit on my hands and
knees to find my latest seedlings.  Nerd.

Meanwhile... I am already working on Phase II plantings.  The meadow that we have started from seed is just the base.  I do expect that it will take about 2-5 years for things to really start to establish and become mature and we will be adding some other plants that we are sprouting separately as focal points.  My most eagerly anticipated?  Silver Bush Lupine (Lupinus albifrons).

I am a sucker for Lupines in general- perhaps because they are one of the easiest plants to learn to identify and I am not (sadly) a botanist.  Lupines have "palmate" leaves- they have five leaves that come from a center step so that it looks like the palm of a hand.  It really is fun to go out and see a plant and have that surge of "HEY!  I know what that is!  It is a LUPINE" and your non-biologist friends will think you are some sort of a genius.  Humm... that might be why I like them.  I digress.

Lupines are gorgeous anyway- most are blue or purple but there are some spectacular yellow ones too.  The best part is they are really easy to grow from seed and the Bush Lupines are proving to be just as easy.  I found the seeds at Theodore Payne seed supplier and also picked up some Western Redbud seed and Nevin's Barberry (and endangered species because of habitat loss).  I did a scarification process on the Lupines by putting them in boiling water over night and they started germinating right away.

Once the meadow starts to really get going, we will add the Bush Lupine as well as CA Oatgrass and (possibly) CA Bottlebrush grass (both of which I am germinating in flats for the back hillside).

Egg cartons work great for sprouting. Lupine seed leaves poking up.

Not only beautiful, but great for ground birds like Towhee's to hide in.
It is toxic to livestock so we will have to put off getting a herd of cattle.

We picked the Bush Lupine because, once again, it is found locally at Edgewood.  It is a favorite for both of us and we will probably only plant two or three in the front yard.  They get big.  If anyone wants some extras- I will likely have at least two dozen come up and will only use about 5 at max.  Love to share, so let me know if you want to be on the hand-me-down plant list.  I am a zealot and like to spread the love :-)